Companies invest a lot of money in measuring Customer Satisfaction. This is usually expressed as a percentage. The leading Market Research companies have now shown conclusively the econometric linkage as being a 1% rise in Customer Satisfaction leads to a 1% rise in a company’s turnover. Every business owner whether in a Small or Medium business or indeed in a PLC should take notice of this significant finding.
Customer satisfaction is really just a reflection of what is known as the complete customer experience journey. The journey is made up of multiple touch-points such as: the initial contact with a member of staff – this might be in-store or at the checkout or on the telephone.
The journey then continues with how satisfied they are with the product or service. If there was a problem, how sympathetically, easily and quickly has the problem been resolved? How does this leave the customer’s perception of the business after the matter was finally resolved? The most sensitive and key touch-points in this journey require the involvement of the company’s staff. It should come as no surprise therefore that one of the key components for customer satisfaction is employee satisfaction.
How happy are your employees? Unhappy employees, often unknowingly, are one of the key areas of complaint or dissatisfaction shown by customers.
Unhappy employees can come over as uncaring, unavailable, uncooperative, arrogant, even rude especially when a purchase escalates into a complaint. And yet most companies put very little effort into keeping their staff happy. In fact there is a trend in this difficult economy with high levels of unemployment to treat employees as if they should be grateful to have a job, to stop complaining about the work load now being carried out by ever dwindling numbers of staff and yet they must still manage a smile for the customer.
Enlightened employers know that happy employees are good for business, that productivity will soar and that it doesn’t cost a fortune to run a happy ship.
Employees are looking for recognition and praise instead of neglect and petty criticism. How often has a highly efficient, motivated happy team become demoralised and brought to its knees because of an incompetent new manager? Employees can be made and kept happy by including them in decisions that are going to affect them, also by listening to them, rewarding them with recognition and sometimes it only takes an ‘employee of the month’ badge, a small gift voucher, or even a box of chocolates.
But one thing is certain, happy employees make for a happy work place which reflects in more productivity, pride in the quality of their work, less staff turnover, greater customer satisfaction and higher revenues. So Companies who ignore the happiness of their employees do so at their peril.
Keith Barrett believes that an office fit out could transform any working environment. This could be important, when you’re looking to improve the performance levels of employees. He writes on a broad range of business issues.
Happy Employees Are Good For Business
